Senate Energy votes to confirm Danly

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13 to 7 Wednesday to advance the nomination of James Danly to be deputy secretary of energy.

The Danly nomination to be the No. 2 official in the Department of Energy can now go to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. No date for such a vote was scheduled as of Thursday afternoon.

Danly, nominated by President Donald Trump on Jan. 22, is a former general counsel and commission member at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Also, during Wednesday’s business meeting, Senate Energy and Natural Resources voted 14 to 6 to confirm Katharine MacGregor’s nomination to be deputy secretary of interior. MacGregor, who served in the same post during part of the first Trump administration, has been a vice president at NextEra Energy and worked as a congressional staffer.

The top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), voted to confirm both nominees although he expects to disagree with many of their policies.

“I do believe the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior both need tested and qualified leaders who are familiar with the Departments and understand the work that they do,” Heinrich said, adding he has worked with both Danly and MacGregor before and considers them qualified.

“Too many decisions are currently being made DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] personnel who frankly don’t know the first thing about public land, about Western water, about tribal nations, or energy policy, and yet have been put in charge of critically important programs and agencies, to disastrous effect,” Heinrich said in a statement.